Data from analytics outfit Topsy indicates discussion on Twitter about gun law reform laws has plummeted almost to the levels they were before the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14th.

A quick pull of the term “gun control” on Twitter indicates the term skyrocketed on the day of the shooting, only to fall back recently to almost the same levels as before Sandy Hook. The terms “gun reform”, “handguns”, “school shooting” and “gun murder” return similar results.

The terms “guns” and “assault rifles” are a bit higher than their pre-Sandy Hook levels. (You can do your own analysis here)

Granted: Twitter is not representative of all public dialogue. Surely, very impassioned conversations on gun control are happening right now across the country. But as the worries over the country’s financial troubles (see trends for “fiscal cliff) deepened, the attention around gun control clearly dropped off online.

And this is also not to say there aren’t great efforts to keep gun reform in the public dialogue. One Twitter feed, Gun Deaths, tweets out reports of each new gun-related death across America: Gun Deaths has posted 37 times since yesterday morning.

Other factors worked against “gun reform”. The Sandy Hook shootings happened on a Friday and a week before many took off for the holidays — when many spend less time monitoring the news and conversing online.

The NRA later grabbed headlines when executive vice-president Wayne LaPierre suggested putting an armed police officers in every school — somewhat of a departure from actually talking about reforming gun laws.

Many believed that, after almost going numb to the regular occurrence of deadly shootings, the murder of children at Sandy Hook would finally catalyze change for the United States’ gun laws. The Economist noted that “This time may — just — prove different.”

And it still may. Senator Diane Feinstein (D-Ca) will introduce a bill restricting gun rights and vice-president Joe Biden is heading a commission to develop proposals to curb gun violence.